Tim McGraw Addresses Atlanta Slapping Incident

Last week, Tim McGraw made headlines after video footage of a fan grabbing his pant leg and him subsequently slapping back in response hit the web.

His publicist was quick to respond saying, “At the end of the night during the encore, Tim was singing out in the audience and someone firmly grabbed onto his leg and wouldn’t let go as he was moving through the crowd. He instinctively swatted to try and keep them from ripping his jeans (which they succeeded at doing!), and so he could get to more fans who were trying to slap hands with him before the end of the show.” Adding, “He didn’t know who had grabbed him and was simply trying to keep his jeans from being torn.”

Now that the video has gone viral, McGraw is speaking out about the incident to share his side of the story.

“Sometimes things can lose context and perspective. I reacted in an instinctive, defensive way from my perspective of what was going on,” McGraw tells ET Canada. I think it was an unfortunate situation, I think all the way around.”

“But it happened, it happened in a split second, it was pure instinctive reaction, I think you just got to move on,” he says. “It is one of those things that happen, nobody feels good about it, but there’s nothing that could be done about it. You are in that position, you are out there, you are vulnerable, things happen and sometimes you react. There’s nothing to be said about it.”

As for the woman, if she decides to press charges, Atlanta police will investigate, but it appears police consider Tim the victim. According to TMZ, Tim’s reaction was justified after the woman appeared to be the aggressor by ripping his jeans. So far, the woman has not stepped forward.

In case you haven’t seen the video, check it out below. It’s pretty clear that the fan was over-stepping her boundaries. What do you think?